Some doubters had worried that we would see a third runway built at Heathrow before the return of the IAG-British Airways dividend. After years of sorting out Iberia, IAG has announced it will pay an interim dividend of 10 euro cents a share. Yet the bigger story is, what next for the three main UK-based airlines?
Today’s half-year results are a watershed for IAG and its chief executive, Willie Walsh. The arrival of IAG’s first dividend — BA had scrapped its payout during the depths of the 2008 financial crisis — sends the signal that the takeover by BA of Iberia (and its renaming as IAG) is finally deemed a success, and that all is well with IAG’s latest acquisition, Aer Lingus.
The point